Purchasing plane tickets online, what gives?!

[RhineMaiden 23]

Hi! As my daughter's immigration process is about to come to a conclusion, I started looking around for plane tickets online. My plan is that I would bring my two kids with me (ages 7 and 4). 

For now I'm kind of leaning towards buying the tickets thru Orbitz, though I would appreciate any suggestions and recommendations.

 

So the input would be:

3 round trips (1 adult + 2 kids) (Chicago to Manila and back)

1 one way (for my daughter) (Manila to Chicago)

 

The results yielded that buying a one way ticket for my daughter is waaaay more expensive than buying a round trip ticket - meaning I might as well buy 4 round trips instead of 3. So my question is, is it the better way to go, to just buy a fourth round trip fare? Does any of you experienced this? would buying a round trip fare for my daughter (who will only be travelling one way) would cause any trouble with her entry to the US? Any input is appreciated. TIA

[Patient 57]

Single fares are often priced higher than a return.

 

One option is to pick the fly date you want then book the return a long way out. It may be cheaper or you can make it changeable so that you have a return visit partly paid to nip back to Manila as a mum and daughter holiday etc.

Another is to fly the Manila to Chicago single leg on airmiles plus a contribution using the 3 family flights to ramp up the mileage ....... plus other flights and mileage etc.

 

 

 

 

[loesch 3]

Yes that's what we often do since round-trip is so much cheaper: we buy the round-trip and try to estimate a future date where we might actually want to use it. Then even if we have to pay $ to change the date, that often is worth it in the end. 

 

I often check ticket prices with Skyscanner because they manage to check a lot of different sites all at once. Also Google Flights is a neat tool that helps to see which dates might be cheaper than others for a given route.

 

Good luck!

[f f 725]

you can buy a round trip that is way out and call up the airline once you are here and offer to cancel it if they refund it or give you some money back otherwise just skip the return flight.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

You could buy her a round trip Manila-Chicago-Manila and just not use the return; many people do that as return flights are often cheaper than one ways.  Do NOT buy her a round trip Chicago-Manila-Chicago with the intent to only use the second leg- when she doesn't turn up for the first leg, the second one will be automatically cancelled.

[Ryan H 3,791]

~~Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Off Topic.~~

 

~~~Duplicate threads merged.~~~

Edited January 31, 2017 by Ryan H

[RhineMaiden 23]

8 hours ago, Patient said:

Single fares are often priced higher than a return.

 

One option is to pick the fly date you want then book the return a long way out. It may be cheaper or you can make it changeable so that you have a return visit partly paid to nip back to Manila as a mum and daughter holiday etc.

Another is to fly the Manila to Chicago single leg on airmiles plus a contribution using the 3 family flights to ramp up the mileage ....... plus other flights and mileage etc.

Unfortunately for me, this will be my first time in 7 years to be flying back home, I know, it's been a long while. So in that case, I'm really not sure how airmiles work, I've heard about credit card ads and such but I don't have that. Are you suggesting some kind of app or online rewards? I'm interested.

 

8 hours ago, loesch said:

Yes that's what we often do since round-trip is so much cheaper: we buy the round-trip and try to estimate a future date where we might actually want to use it. Then even if we have to pay $ to change the date, that often is worth it in the end. 

 

I often check ticket prices with Skyscanner because they manage to check a lot of different sites all at once. Also Google Flights is a neat tool that helps to see which dates might be cheaper than others for a given route.

 

Good luck!

Thank you! I will look at Skyscanner, I just happened to hear some negative reviews about Kayak and Expedia so I'm not really planning to go that way. Thanks again!

Edited January 31, 2017 by RhineMaiden

[RhineMaiden 23]

4 hours ago, Penguin_ie said:

You could buy her a round trip Manila-Chicago-Manila and just not use the return; many people do that as return flights are often cheaper than one ways.  Do NOT buy her a round trip Chicago-Manila-Chicago with the intent to only use the second leg- when she doesn't turn up for the first leg, the second one will be automatically cancelled.

Thanks for the really helpful input. I didn't even realized I'm actually looking at the exact same 4th roundtrip input (C-M-C) until you pointed it out! You saved my life!!

[RhineMaiden 23]

8 hours ago, f f said:

you can buy a round trip that is way out and call up the airline once you are here and offer to cancel it if they refund it or give you some money back otherwise just skip the return flight.

That's a thought! As stingy as I am, I sure can use a refund from the return flight! Thanks!

[Patient 57]

2 hours ago, RhineMaiden said:

Unfortunately for me, this will be my first time in 7 years to be flying back home, I know, it's been a long while. So in that case, I'm really not sure how airmiles work, I've heard about credit card ads and such but I don't have that. Are you suggesting some kind of app or online rewards? I'm interested.

If you have no airmiles banked do not worry.

 

For ticket booking, set up another email account for use to register for deals. KLM and Air France do a wow Wednesday, as do other airlines, it will ensure you get a good deal next time.

Plan to book on Expedia and then book direct on the highlighted airline website as sometimes the booking conditions and ticket terms vary with price.

 

This is important if collecting the airmiles if the class of ticket varies as the airmiles earnt may also be as well.

 

A good point of reference are sites like these:

• http://thepointsguy.com/2014/11/21-ways-to-earn-airline-miles-that-you-might-not-know-about/ 
• http://triphackr.com/22-ways-become-points-miles-millionaire/

 

[RhineMaiden 23]

Another question: 

 

I have no idea how it all works but last night, I put in my usual "1 adult, 2 kids round trip" assuming travel on March for 3 weeks and got a result of $600+ ticket per person... not bad, I actually think it's too good to be true (or is it?)

Today, same input, assuming travel for the entire month of June (depart 06/01, return 06/30) and got a $900+ result ---- so I'm like, huh?!

 

I always thought that the farther ahead you book, the cheaper, or is it just a myth? What am I doing wrong here? Is there some kind of a trick/formula I need to learn? 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by RhineMaiden

[RhineMaiden 23]

Another One:

 

I'm so confused, on buying the 4th round trip separately for my daughter (MNL-ORD-MNL with the intent of skipping the return flight) How do I find/buy the exact same flight - the same return flight as mine and my 2 kids? Obviously I'm not buying a flight with her on a different airplane! Help! I'm just a noob on all this online plane booking thing!

Edited February 5, 2017 by RhineMaiden

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

Usually, booking far ahead is cheaper. However, sometimes there are fare sales, and then June date is probably prime tourist season (schools are out...), so it is more expensive.  Also look at the days of the week; some days tend to be cheaper than others. If you have some time before deciding on dates, you can set up a Google alert that will email you when prices fall.

 

Did you already book your tickets?  There should be a flight number and times.  Just make sure the flight number and times (and date!) are the same for the ticket for your daughter.

[RhineMaiden 23]

2 hours ago, Penguin_ie said:

Usually, booking far ahead is cheaper. However, sometimes there are fare sales, and then June date is probably prime tourist season (schools are out...), so it is more expensive.  Also look at the days of the week; some days tend to be cheaper than others. If you have some time before deciding on dates, you can set up a Google alert that will email you when prices fall.

 

Did you already book your tickets?  There should be a flight number and times.  Just make sure the flight number and times (and date!) are the same for the ticket for your daughter.

That makes sense! Vacation peak times! I haven't thought of that .... No Ma'am, not booking until my daughter gets an interview date, I'm planning to come along with her on her interview.  

 

... So I think I finally figured it out (filters filters filters!)... Those that I highlighted red, are those the flight numbers?

[Fr8dog 312]

And to even make it more confusing:

Check the total price. This includes any additional charges for checked luggage, but most importantly taxes. They ad up really fast, but are normally not shown until the last page.